Hello, my Wylde-lings!

I was gone for a while, and I'm thankfully back. I kind of disappeared off the face of the earth for two weeks... At least that's what it feels like to me.

Let me tell you what I've been up to.

My boyfriend and I went to a detox center. We went last year, too, for seven days, and this year, we decided to go for ten days. Well, let me tell you... it wasn't easy! We didn't eat anything solid for nine days, and on day ten, we were pretty done with the whole thing and asked them to make us raw vegan food, so we could begin the re-feeding process.

The experience was underwhelming, to tell you the truth. Last year, we were so excited! We were blown away by how professional everyone who worked there was. This year, they lost a lot of people. So there were new employees who barely knew anything about what was going on, and the experience wasn't great. They are left with one massage therapist who's good, and one person who prepares the juices and the food, who's also good. And in these conditions, they also raised their prices! So we paid A LOT for subpar services. Honestly, I don't think we'll go again next year.

But we did get something I'm excited about out of it! We had time to look for a place to rent, because we've been thinking of moving for a while now. We saw a few houses and apartments, and we found a penthouse that's only partially furnished, which means the rent is more than affordable.

We're moving starting September 15! The owner still has to fix some things in the penthouse, and we told him that we're not moving in until they're fixed.

It's not perfect, especially since we'll have to move all our furniture, but... yeah... at least it's cheap. The reason we always go for a house or a penthouse is that we cannot with neighbors. Not anymore. I need peace and quiet, as much as possible, and I need to sleep well and not be woken up by whatever noises others make.

If I don't sleep well, I can't write. If there's noise, I can't write. And I'm so tired of having to wear ear plugs all the time. Fingers crossed this place is okay. We won't know until we move.

So, that's that. I'll be moving again! I end up moving every two years or so. At some point, I'll have to move out of the country, honestly. Romania and Romanians in general are SO damn noisy! Everyone's like, "It's my house / yard, I do what I want!" And they're bothering everyone around them.

Crazy story one of the agents told us. She was complaining that she lives in a block of flats and her upstairs neighbors make a lot of noise. They don't do anything special, just... exist, basically, but the building is so crappy that if someone above you drops something on the floor, or just walks (and they don't have carpets), you hear everything. So, what does she do? She sleeps with loud relaxing music, which bothers her downstairs neighbor, who complains about it.

I think that's just ridiculous. Someone bothers you, so you bother someone else. And on and on, until everyone is stressed and suffers from PTSD because of all the noise.

I'm trying to avoid that as much as possible. I've had my horrible experiences in the past, and at some point, I might just have to bite the bullet and move somewhere isolated. Like a lake house in Sweden or Finland. But I'm far from having the financial means for that.

Oh well. So this is the story of my life. I'll be chasing peace and quiet until the day I die. So I can write books!!!

And speaking of books, I have some exciting news!

You know I'm in this anthology, Rituals and Runes, that releases in October... It's a list-aiming anthology, which means that we're trying to hit the USA Today bestsellers list. And it's hard... We're getting there, I hope, but it's super hard, because we need to hit a certain HIGH number of pre-orders on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Apple Books. And while Amazon is easier, so few people buy from the other two places.

So here I am, begging... Please, please, please consider getting the set on all or any of the three stores! It's only 99 cents everywhere, and it will help us a lot. It will help me, as this is the first list-aiming set I've ever done. It's all new and a bit overwhelming.

And if you buy the anthology on ANY of the online stores, you can claim this free coloring book that the authors of Rituals and Runes have put together. I think it's worth it!

A gift for you! The authors of Rituals and Runes created a one-of-a-kind coloring book as a free gift for all the great readers who have purchased the ebook. All you need to do is fill out the form, and a private link will be emailed to you, allowing you access to the coloring book. We couldn't do it without you, and we appreciate your support.

Fill out the form

If you haven't grabbed your copy yet, here are the three main places where you can get it!

Amazon

Apple Books

Barnes and Noble

We really need the numbers on Apple Books and Barnes and Noble... It sucks, because almost everyone buys on Amazon...

Okay, I'm done begging. :D Please help, though?

My book in this set is Most Unholy Pumpkin Spice. Here is the cover, and a short teaser.

There was a rustle again, and the sound startled me awake. The room was dark, and for a moment, I wanted to turn on the lamp on my bedside table. Then I remembered Sunny. Since Mom wasn’t here, the dog would want to sleep with me. It was probably her wandering around, trying to find a good spot.

I fell back asleep.

The mattress dipped under a weight that wasn’t mine. The feeling that I wasn’t alone in the room hit me out of nowhere, and my eyes snapped open. It was still dark, it was still raining, and Sunny wasn’t by my side. I slowly sat up and looked at the foot of the bed, where I once again felt like the mattress dipped further under someone’s weight.

And then I saw it. A shadow.

Dark, massive, crawling toward me.

“No,” I whispered. “This is a dream.”

But if it were a dream, I should’ve been able to wake up just by telling myself that it was a dream.

“I shouldn’t have drunk coffee...”

Even as the terror grew inside me, I found the strength to reach out for the lamp. I pressed the button on the side, and a warm, shy beam of light fell on the figure crawling its way into my bed.

A man.

Pale skin, sharp spikes covering his arms, a strong jaw, and high cheekbones. A straight nose, intense dark eyes, dark hair, and... horns atop his head.

I saw a tail snake its way through the sheets, lightly wrapping around my calf through the thick duvet.

A demon.

I screamed once.

He winced, then said, “You have summoned me, witch. I am here.”

I screamed again, and this time, I didn’t stop.

*** ***

Thank you so much!

Love,

Cara